Monthly Archives: November 2014

Now that the Carlsen – Anand is over, I want to share some data about the match on Twitter with you. I spotted a tweet on 20 November by @gauravinsan, that I found rather interesting:

“29 thousand tweets already today on #CarlsenAnand. Hats off to chess lovers around the globe”.

I think it is slightly unclear if he meant that on that particular day 29.000 tweets were written, or 29.000 tweets with the hashtag #CarlsenAnand in total during the whole match (until 20 November).

Dr. Gaurav Garg Insan aka @gauravinsan did not answer my question which hashttag tracker he used. 29.000 Tweets per day? Never! I did not believe it. This claim sounds like the 600 Million fairy tale AGON wants us to believe! If you want to read more about this subject, go to the Streathan and Brixton Chess Blog. Recommended!

I used HashTracking.com to find out what was really happening on Twitter. Here is a chart:

You can see that I started tracking the official world championship hashtag #CarlsenAnand on Nov. 20, after I read the tweet by @gauravinsan. The first hick-up is on November 21, when the 10th game was played. A lot of tweets were written on Nov. 23, when the 11th and last game was played.

Until November 26, slightly over 24.000 tweets were written (24.334) by tweeters using the official hashtag. Add the 29.000 tweets as claimed by @gauravinsan, and you get around 53.000 tweets during the world championship. Sounds like a lot of tweets, but there is another interesting chart:

Rather interesting is the number of original tweets and the number of retweets: 8.839 tweets, 14.552 retweets, which is almost 60% of the total number of tweets! Does that make chessplayers lazy tweeters?

Most tweets: A surprise: number one is not @TarjeiJS, the Twitter Guru from Norway. The most tweets came from the official twitter account @AnandCarlsen14. Number two is @riksec08, but he only retweeted, and did not manage to write one single original tweet! I have no idea why somebody retweets thousand of tweets, especially when you only have 68 follower. Lost on me.

Anyway, since I do not have all the twitter data of the world championship, it is not absolutely clear if @TarjeiJS not the number one tweeter. His data in november:

Not everybody used the hashtag #CarlsenAnand. Other popular hashttags used were #chess, #carlsenanand2014, #nrksjakk (for the Norwegians), #wish4vishy and #c24live.

Is it safe to say that somewhere between 60.000 and 70.000 messages were tweeted and retweeted during the chess world championship 2014? Quite a lot, right?

It would be interesting to compare the number of tweets to similar events, like as snooker world championship or a darts world championship final. Of course, it is not fair to compare the chess match to the Superbowl (American Football), but just to give you an idea: in 2014 24,9 Million tweets were sent during the game Seahawks vs Broncos!

Talking about millions: did you know that around 650 million tweets are sent…every day, which is about 8000 tweets per second. Crazy! Have a look:

Finally, a quick look at this site: around 750 to 1000 people visited this blog every day during the match. Most visitors (top 5) to this blog came from India, then USA, Germany, Norway and The Netherlands. Top 5 cities: Bangalore, then Chennai and Mumbai. Oslo came in 4th place, London on 5, Sochi on 12! Did Carlsen and Anand read Chess in Tweets? Of course they did!

Suggestions needed!

How to continue Chess in Tweets? Would you like to see a weekly episode with the best tweets of the chess week? Do you prefer an event blog, like I did this year during the Candidates, Olympiad and World Championship? Other suggestions?

The world chess championship 2014 is over. After his win in the 11th game world champion Magnus Carlsen tweeted:

@MagnusCarlsen:“A big thanks to everyone who supported me on this interesting journey. Two down, five to go.”

His opponenent also tweeted after the last game: @Vishy64TheKing: “As i sit down tonight there are many thoughts and one thought comes to mind. Last december I thought to myself You are not a quitter.”

and added: “And I can say I feel proud to have played in Sochi. I enjoyed the journey.Magnus played a better match. This is his moment. Congrats”.

An ex-world champion congratulated Carlsen: @Kasparov63: “Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen for defending his world championship title, and doing it in style today with a great win!”

and added: “Magnus said “2 down, 5 to go,” referring to my 7 successful world championship matches. (6.5 really.) I wish him the best of luck!”

and added: “Now we just need Vishy to admit he was chatting to Kramnik on Skype every night :)”

More reactions from top players: via @chess24.com: “Aronian: “I’ve never seen a World Championship match with quality games. They’re over-prepared so they commit mistakes during the games”.

A statement by Hikaru Nakamura aka @GMHikaru: “Also to clarify about the WC match since everyone is going insane. I simply thought Carlsen’s quality wasn’t as dominant as last year.”

A future challenger tweeted: @fabianocaruana:“Congrats to Magnus on another big success! Unfortunately,I was traveling today and missed watching the decisive game.”

Talking about challengers: @elgransenor1:“What’s likely is that Carlsen’s next challenger will be someone even younger than he is. Caruana and Giri are both huge future threats.”

@TigerKatten:“I’m rooting for real candidates matches next time around, in order to find the most challenging opponent for Magnus.”

And a tweet by @SilvioDanailov:“Another black day for Makro&friends “FIDE” This is only the beginning”

Norway went nuts, of course. @TarjeiJS:“2,7 million Norwegians (half of the population) watched at least a minute of Carlsen-Anand on tv. That’s +16 % compared to 2013”

@palewire: “Norwegian news has system for readers to make Magnus Carlsen themed Xmas chess sweaters”

Closing ceremony

There was a closing ceremony on Tuesday. Why can’t the winner of the match get his medal and trophy after the last game? Is it really necessary to organize a 30-minute ceremony, two days after the last game?

@anandcarlsen14: “Medals awarded to the players by President Putin are made by FIDE/Agon and Adamas, Russia’s premier jewelry company”.

@kajasnare: “Putin making Carlsen wait … 30 min delay.“

@TarjeiJS:” I can imagine at least one person who is bored to death now. 34 minutes delay and counting”.

@MarkTwic:“I don’t know about other people but I’m kind of getting bored now”.

@dscaper: “Russia and FIDE still haven’t figured out the most important man in the room should be the World Champ, not the presenter.”

and added: “Magnus should get up and walk out – not there for Putin.”

After Putin arrived, the ceremony finally started: @makvikne: “Carlsen, Anand and Putin on the stage together; Inspiration for the next Chess musical?”

@ChrisBirdIA: “Carlsen gets a nice shiny gold medal, a big trophy and a Christmas wreath, just in time for the holidays”.

@Pookita: “I know it’s tradition but that wreath belongs on a door somewhere – or maybe on a horse that just won”.

Talking about rest days: we don’t know at what time press officer @NastiaKarlovich got up on the rest day on Saturday, but we know what she did: “Climbed 2300 m and mind the signs. Free day in Sochi”, and posted this picture:

@TarjeiJS: I have a feeling Magnus will want to finish in style and go for a win. But without too much risk. Can he? @Jonathan_Rowson replied:”I suspect you’re right- I imagine he’ll be in a ‘win the game’ rather than ‘don’t screw up the match’ mindset.”

@reachsvara: “Considering Magnus played sharp in game10, today he may do same. Both players confident playing other’s strong points”.

@vishalsareen:“Last chance to complicate matters with black? Anand will have to be charged-up and go for it”

@kajasnare:”This sounds arrogant, but the world championship title will be so much more impressive if Carlsen gets it with a win to day”

@garylanchess: “Carlsen will teach Anand a lesson today. A slight edge and lots of moves before he is champ again”, and added this picture:

@vinodharidas:“Don’t know if I want to watch Carlsen-Anand tonight. Can’t bear Vishy losing or drawing this one. Which is most likely with Black against MC”.

@abhimanyurati:“One thing is very clear, if Vishy goes on to equalise, it will be one of the greatest comebacks in the history of any sport!”

Comeback? What do you think, @EinarGausel: “I think Vishy might give 1…c5 another whirl. 1…e5 will be a clear indication that his only goal is survival.

@harrypillsbury:“Probably impossible. I’d really like to see a Benoni: Son of Sorrow2”.

Interesting tweet by Carlsen second Jon Ludvig Hammer during the game, @gmljh:”Don’t let the opening’s name fool you – this position is extremely sharp. Give white four free moves, and he’s killing black on kingside!” and he added: “Same applies for Anand – give him a couple of moves and he’ll crush through on the queeenside.”

Ok, maybe a move like, let’s say b5 would do the ‘crush’ job? Let’s aks the grandmasters watching on Twitter:

@Vachier_Lagrave:“Very strange decisions by Carlsen from the very start up to allowing the b5 break. Now he will need a world of cleverness to save the day”.

@GMLars: “23…b5! is a strong move but especially psychologically, showing VA is ready to go for it. Probably still about even, though”.

@reachvsara added a picture: “I would love to see ahead and invent the question “Where were you when …b5 was played?”

The decision?

@Jonathan_Rowson: “26…Rdb8. Vishy continues playing the most solid moves, after 27.Rb1 I’m not sure what he plans, but 27…Rb4!? is possible.”

@GMHikaru was the first tweeter who was critical about Rb4: “Rb8-b4 seems rather strange. Be7xf6 seemed better as Nepo suggested. Unfortunately, I think Carlsen is going to wrap up the match now.”

@ChrisBirdIA: “I did wonder if the DGT folks were messing with us again once …Rb4 appeared on the broadcast”.

@VinodHaridas:“Vishy has gone bonkers. But not in a good way :-(“

@rajachess:“Rb4 and then cxb4 looks really dubious he could wait with this plan for longer. Hmmm…”

@erwinlami: “Not clear to me why Vishy didn’t go for 26…Be7xf6 with a very substantial advantage.”

@SuryaChess: “Very bold play by Anand.I am just not sure if this was needed at this moment.I hope I am wrong & Anand knows what he is doing”.

@hansenchess: “Anand senses the urgency. However, his execution could be rusty since he hasn’t had enough sharp games this match”.

@TarjeiJS: “Team Carlsen in a good mood surrounded by Norwegian press.”

And we have a tweet from team Carlsen, from Ellen Carlsen aka @ellenoec: “Wow, I thought Magnus at best had a draw, what a turn of events. Or am I missing something!?”

No Ellen, you did not miss something, according to @rajachess: “Really bad moment to go for this operation, at least later on with less time on the clock! Very brave decision but really wrong moment.”

@GMAlexColovic: “Probably devastating for Anand to realise he dug his own grave with that exchange sac”

@chesscampeona: “The Berlin in Game 11 is dead”.

@anishgiri:“Anand felt it, but Anand didn’t see it…”

The evaluation provided by @MadsStostad tells the story of the game:

@tpcourier:“ Magnus. Fucking clinical. No other way to say it.”

@erwinlami: “Just an hour ago I felt Vishy had good chances to equalize the match and press for more in game 12. Amazing turn of events.”

@pauldiggle: “White mates in in 74, apparently”

@reachvsara: “And this is where we get warm and say: Well Fought to Vishy and Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen.”

@GMjlh:“Extremely close today. Anand almost got into game 12 with white and a tied score! Well fought.”

@Vachier_Lagrave:“Congrats to Magnus Carlsen for retaining his title, even not playing at his best, he is a force to be reckoned with.”

@Unudurti:“Throughout the match Anand created more chances but Carlsen was far more accurate in seizing his chances whenever they came”.

@LawrenceTrentIM: “Carlsen World Champion once again, deservedly so. Vishy didn’t push hard enough when he had very promising positions, that’s the bottom line.”

@theclosetgm: “Well, that’s it then. Carlsen retains the world championship title. Time to have some other, more serious, challenger to have a crack.”

@IVFSnoree: “Carlsen wins in11 games, as predicted. Congratulations!”

@ellenoec: “Still shaking, so proud! World champion x2”.

Malcolm Pein aka @telegraphchess:“Magnus’s Ke4 was the moment he kept his nerve Vishy’s Rb4 was the moment he lost his. Vishy: “obviously my nerves were the first to crack”.”

@EtienneGoud:“Well that ends a great world championship match. Both players did very well and we (still) have a deserved World Champion. Hail Magnus! ;)”

One last tweet for today by @kajasnare: “I have touched more levels on my emotional specter today than I did my entire high school career”.

Attention: There will be an extra “Carlsen-Anand in Tweets-Game Over” edition of Chess in Tweets later this week. Stay tuned!

Do we really want to look back at the shortest game of the match? I don’t think so: @ChessLive_es: tweeted “Decepcionantes tablas en la 9ª partida del mundialCarlsenAnand.“, and added this wonderful cartoon by Wadalupe:

@agostobrizuela:“I get the impression that Magnus Carlsen is out partying every night during this world championship match.”

One more tweet about the Berlin defence: @nigelshortchess: “When I become FIDE President, the first thing I will do is ban the Berlin”.

@harrypillsbury:“When I become FIDE chess president, I will reinstate the zonal system and the 24 game WCM every 3 years“.

Game 10 – the tweets

Let’s go to the game. What to expect? @ginger_gm: “Expecting some violence today after two rest days. Maybe we will see a Nimzo on the board!?”

@bennedik:“Game 10 prediction: Anand castles long against the Queen’s gambit line from game 8”.

Wrong guess! @vishalsareen: “This is it.. Grunfeld Qb3.This is the game we all wanted! Let’s see who is better prepared! This will be strictly homework”.

Lots of top grandmasters follow the game on Twitter: Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana, Erwin L’Ami and Paco Vallejo, to name just a few. Here a a few tweets about the opening:

@anishgiri:“Very peculiar choice by Magnus, I don’t know who can come up with the idea to play this line in the must-not-lose situation.”

@fabianocaruana:“The gloves are off”. @rajachess: “Well… Close to equality. But press by white!” @chessidharta: “Vishy pressing again . Magnus seems to have problems against 1.d4”.

@erwinlami: “One thing is clear; 1.d4 is virtually an ‘only move’ when you play a World Championship match.”

Another game, another Berlin, another draw: for the sake of completeness I compiled this edition of Chess in Tweets for posterity.

I want to open this edition with a quote by Bobby Fischer:

“But the thing that was great about Capablanca was that he really spoke his mind, he said what he believed was true, he said what he felt. He wanted to change the rules [of chess] already, back in the twenties, because he said chess was getting played out. He was right. Now chess is completely dead. It is all just memorisation and prearrangement. It’s a terrible game now. Very uncreative.”

Chess24 commentators doing a Magnus!

Game 9 in 9 tweets

1. @Jaircabra:“Tired of waking up at 6am, but I know next game will be worth it!”

2. @LarsNygaard:“Magnus managed remis while half asleep yesterday. He should have a good chance of winning today.”

After the long game on Monday, it seemed that the chesstwitter community had enough of chess and twitter for a while. Obviously most followers had to go to bed or had dinner, and logged off, since the number of tweets after the game had finished was negligible.

@category5Moron: “7 hours and still no pompom show yesterday, nor a drinks break. They should introduce half-time in chess”.

@MarkTwic had a rough day at the office on Monday: “Did anyone grab the games from the Chinese rapid event this morning? Was so exhausted after yesterday couldn’t get up to do it.”

The editors at the Dutch service “Teletekst” must have been sleepy as well, when they compiled this page:

Spot the error! Dutchies @peterdoggers and @anishgiri tweeted: “Ask them why it’s so hard to correct this mistake (green text)”. “Told them days ago.”

As usual, a number of tweeters predicted the opening: @terendle: Will we see another new opening from Magnus today? I say no – perhaps a repeat of the QGD, but obviously a different line!

@GMJanGustafsson: “Random predictions: -1.d4 -Another Queens Indian -Draw”, followed up by: “Did I predict a Queens Indian? I meant to write Queens Gambit of course :)”

@garylanechess: “As I predicted a Queen’s Gambit. A safety first approach by Magnus.”

@nigelshortchess: “Looks like a typical condom variation from Magnus: to be used once and thrown away”.

@TarjeiJS:“Nigel Short is making headlines in Norway with the “condom opening” tweet.”

9….Re8. A new move? Let’s check twitterland:

@chess24.com: 9…Re8 and the jacket comes off!

GM Abhijeet Gupta aka @iam_abhjieet tweeted: “Inside news: Vishy does know about this Re8 move,Lets see how good his memory is”.

Talking about memory: this tweet gives me the opportunity to post a scan of a lovely ad I have in my archive:

He may need these pills to remember the games @GMJanGustafsson found with 9….Re8: “The greatest predecessors to play 9…Re8 are Janowski 1898, Marshall 1927 and Zviagintsev 2013. That counts as offbeat”.

@FabianoCaruana: “Surprised Carlsen is playing such a risky variation.No doubt he analysed it,but it’s hard to account for all White’s options”.

However, Magnus seemed to feel comfortable and went to sleep:

@pogonina: “Magnus shows his sharp interest in the position by falling asleep already (facepalming?)”

@anishgiri: “Magnus seems/acts hangover. Might not stop him from making an easy draw though”.

@joshfriedel:“Judging by the nap Carlsen is taking, it looks as if he still thinks he is playing a Berlin”.

@enthousiastchess: “♫ ♬ Wake me up when the endgame comes ♩ ♪ ♫ ♩”.

@wigum: “I’ve heard about walkover in some sports, but sleepover? Fantastic, I just love this man.”

@pookita:“The real Magnus is fully awake and calculating at the board in some other reality stream.”

@rajachess, aka world class grandmaster Teymur Rajabov: “World Champion has the right to sleep”.

Easy day at the office for the handful of journalists in Sochi?

After two hours of play @TarjeiJS tweeted: “This should soon be over. The journalists are already preparing for the press conference and a short day at work”

@Berlin_Endgame: “If I was Carlsen / Anand I’d play this on for another three hours just to annoy the muppets who whined yesterday.”

@vishalsareen: “Is this game one of the reason why the phrase ‘Damp Squib’ was construed the way it is?”

@nigelshortchess:“A very dull game. Anand was surprised and ducked the critical continuations at an early stage. Not fatal, but tempus fugit”.

@Jonathan_Rowson: “Vishy won’t be too troubled by today’s game. He’s clearly in a better place than last year psychologically and knows he still has a chance.”

@GMRobinVK: “Magnus looked extremely tired today, incidentally he also has to take a doping test.. hm…”.

Does the doctor check if Vishy took some of the memory pills?

@sellig1947:“Magnus keeps mumbling during press conferences.Barely audible.Is he on drugs? We shall know very soon ;-)”

“Is the FIDE President subject to any doping tests, or indeed any assessment of his fitness for office?” asked @backranktristan

Rest day- not only the players need a day off:

@MarkTwic: “I can’t say I’m all that sorry there’s a short day today. Very long day yesterday with the game and TWIC magazine. Tense game ahead.”

There is a rest day on Wednesday: @reachsvara: “Ever since that Apple was bitten, “What will you do during Rest Day?” has ALWAYS puzzled mankind”.

Ellen Carlsen tweeted: @ellenoec: “Can’t complain about a draw with black, guess both players were quite exhausted after yesterday’s game.. And so are we ;)”

One final tweet for today: @ETFroggy:“These two chess players might be pretty good but they don’t have as cool a name as Levon Aronian”-

Heading into the middle game, @FabianoCaruana tweeted: “Magnus is playing safe and solid – slight edge and a bit of suffering for black, but usually this ends in a draw.”

A slight edge for white, maybe more @GMJanGustafsson? “Is today gonna be the biggest contribution to bringing down the Berlin wall since David Hasselhoff?”

In an interview with German magazine TV Spielfilm in 2004, US actor David Hasselhoff was quoted as saying, “I find it a bit sad that there is no photo of me hanging on the walls in the Berlin Museum at Checkpoint Charlie” – a comment he later denied having made.

Back to the game….. is black still ok?

@Jonathan_Rowson:28. Ng3. Tense. No exchanges any time soon. Could be one of those games that seems deadly dull until it completely catches fire. @nigelshortchess:” It is a surprisingly awkward position for Anand, despite the limited material. The odd imprecision and he could be in trouble”.

@ecm_man: “Kasparov was a killer, whereas Carlsen is a torturer on the chessboard”.

Norwegian chess reporter @TarjeiJS is getting nervous (or bored) and shows us around the venue: “Taking a walk outside the press room”.

A crucial move was played when Tarjei was on the way, and of course the move was played during the commercial break: 28…Ne5

@Olimpiuurcan: “The directors behind this official live broadcast surely know when it’s the exact wrong time to go for a break.”

Ne5. Sounds familiar.

@athreyaa:“No No No Vishy – You were supposed to play Ne5 in the last game. Not today. 😀 :D” and@GMJanGustafsson agrees: “I can’t shake the feeling Ne5 was a better idea in game 6 than in game 7”.

@balaajim: “The irony Ne5 would have won the last game, this time it could be the losing move”.

@TerEndle: “So, now a very tricky ending – and a must hold for Anand if he’s to have any chance in the rest of this match!”

@hansenchess: “Not sure what to make of the endgame. Will sit back, relax, and try to learn.”

@Chessnotes: G7: If you need real entertainment laughs, watch engine evals wheeling around trying to get a handle on this position.

Boring? Take up draughts!

@TarjeiJS: “Carlsen trying to bore Anand to death now. This game may take another 150 moves or so”. @avinair: “Amazing how such a long match gets boring even for the players”. @KeyurK2: “This is boring…Can we have a blunder please ?”

@Jonathan_Rowson:“The game is likely to last beyond 100 moves, and there’s an outside chance it might get to 200 moves.”

@spandalai: “Its a war of attrition. Likely draw, but with Carlsen you never know. Intriguing stuff”.

@vermynhath:“Why are people moaning – “dry?” “arid”???. If you cant enjoy this, take up draughts.This is chess at it’s purest. Fantastic”.

Draw!

The game went on and on and on…..

@ollie: “Nearly six hours, and 73 moves, into this one….”

@erwinlami: “Very impressed with the tough decision of going 70…bxc4! and absolutely sure that Vishy will be holding this game now”.

@aakaashn: “I don’t see Anand losing this game in this universe.”

@thelittlehart: “Now is the time for the janitor to come in to the room rattling the keys.”

Before we going to have a look at the tweets of Game 6, let’s ask @TarjeiJS about the weather and the traffic in Sochi:

“Another beautiful day in Sochi”.

@ChessClassic: “Quite a contrast to Chennai. Or Moscow.”

TarjeiJS: “It’s like night and day”. @portisdos:“I thought it was a lost Russian estapa place like some journalist wrote.”

Let’s go to the tweets of game number six now, Any predictions, people?

@FuriousRoger: “Have a feeling Carlsen will play an unorthodox opening for the sake of it & get his fingers burned a la Aronian at Candidates”.

@GMJanGustafsson: “I am giving 3-1 odds on anything but 1.e4 today”.

@JLangstrand:“So far, I’ve been wrong with every prediction about Carlsen Anand. So I’ll just stop guessing and enjoy the match”

@Dizneyrascal64:“Get yourself a cup of tea and a blanket and settle in for 6 hours of chess”.

And the winner is….. @bennedik:“My prediction for today: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 and a different Anti-Sicilian.”

The opening – bad weekend choice

“The Kan! Big surprise (at least for me)“, tweeted @FabianoCaruana. @anishgiri: “Wow, Vishy goes for the Kan variation? That’s known to be a good choice in open tournaments against patzers. :)”

@bennedik:“I didn’t predict an open Sicilian, but I am very happily surprised.”

@Surewin_racing: “Why does Carlsen always go for the most boring lines possible? :(“

@GiddinsSteve:” Easy to criticise Vishy’s opening choice, but less easy to avoid boring position when Black v opponent who chops Q’s at every opportunity.”

@nigelshortchess:”The importance of openings is greatly overestimated by the public. However, not today. Vishy got a passive position very quickly.”

@Jonathan_Rowson: “Vishy plays Kan without Caro, as far as I know, for the 1st time. It’s a favourite choice of mature players; solid & flexible.”

Not everybody was delighted about the opening choice, Hikaru Nakamura does not like mature players, obviously:

@GMHikaru:“Absolutely hate Anand’s opening choice today.”

@GMjtis: “This is not the way VA should be playing the Sicilian. This feels like a Chennai defence”.

@pogonina: “The only reason to employ this line for Anand is to send a message “I can hold even in YOUR type of positions”. Otherwise it’s strange…”

@rajachess: “Terrible choice by Anand today. Just worse,being worse on Saturday all day long is unpleasant,bad week-end choice”

Middle game

@iam_abhijeet“: This type of positions is exactly what one should avoid against Carlsen,It would be !? to see how MadrasTiger defends this one“. @chesscampeona: “Magnus must feel like a kid in a candy store right now”.@LaffenG : “Are you okay Mr Anand ? Looks like your cought with your pants down by Mr Carlsen”.

@FabianoCaruana: “Passive and unpleasant position for Anand – something went very wrong. Now we can settle down for a long grind”.

Any news from the commentators?

@chess24.com:“Sopiko returns to commentate alongside Peter Svidler”.

@polborta aka Peter Svidler: “In reply to the general clamour for Ali G to join the commentary – I agree wholeheartedly, he would be great. But he’s returning home today.”

How to comment the 26th move by Carlsen? Kd2? Engines go wild.

@MadsStostad: “Hvor var du da Anand brakk pila?”

@ChessMike: “Twittersphere blows up with Kd2; reacts against press for asking about it repeatedly. Biggest moment in either match needed several angles.”

@SergeyKarjakin:“When Magnus blundered with Kd2, I was in the playing hall, and wanted to scream NE5!!! It could have changed chess history I guess;-).”

@Kasparov63: Every time there is a bad blunder in a WCh game it’s called “the blunder of the century” but the stress & tension lead to mistakes.

@GMGawain: “Wow just saw the bizarre mutual blindness in Carlsen-Anand. Makes me feel slightly better about the standard of my last two games!”

@GMHikaru: “Anand moving much too fast. Such a shame.”

@ChessNinja: “No top player has made more hasty blunders in technical endgames than Anand. He gets bored, impatient; always been so”.

@Chessbase:” If there was any doubt whether they saw it, this picture of Anand breathing out deeply says it all.”

@Kasparov63:“Amazing double blunder in Carlsen Anand today. Blunders are not that unusual in world championship matches, but returning the favor is!”

@bennedik:“This game is like a bad dream. It would be very sad if it decides the match.”

@gregshahade: “Wow these Anand and Carlsen guys are huge n00bs”

@FabianoCaruana: “I imagine they’re both horrified with how they played today, but Magnus can console himself with a point closer to the title”.

@johnrhartmann:“After today’s double blunder, it appears that I actually _can_ play like both Carlsen and Anand”.

@chesscampeona: “If I feel so bad for Anand, I can only imagine what he feels. He needs a hug.”

@FabianoCaruana:“Shocking blunders… Vishy won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

Post mortem

@reachvsara:“‘Vishy – can you describe being the loser of this game?’ What a brilliant question”.

@theclosetgm:“Seriously, are these real, trained journalists or just a bunch of chess groupies pretending to be journalists?”

There was a rest day on Thursday, but there was still a lot of chess going on in Sochi on Thursday and Friday: @chessblog: “Tal Memorial as two-day Superpowered Blitz in Sochi”.

One of the players had a busy schedule , particularly on Friday: Peter Svidler aka @polborta: “11 more rounds of blitz, and then back to the booth for G5 of Carlsen- Anand. I can definitely see the day ending in a stiff drink (or three)”.

@fstimjp: “11 rounds (of blitz) is quite tough to play.” Really?

One of his fans obviously had a drink or two: @harrypillsbury: “A beer, world championship game and Peter Svidler’s astute commentary. The most fun you can have with your clothes on!”

Who won the blitz? @ChessVibes has the answer: “Mamedyarov wins the prestigious Tal Memorial Blitz event and its $20,000 first prize. Grischuk got close, but ended second.”

@RobertRis: Not bad for two days working 😉 @MarkTwic: “Easier money than the Grand Prix!”

The final table, provided by @ChessVibes. Click to enlarge.

@fstimjp:“What happened to the good old days with 5 min, no increment, and an analogue clock, Insa or Garde?”

Game 5

Ready for game five? Just before the game started, Simon Williams aka @ginger_gm tweeted: “About to go live with Irina Krush in 5 minutes. Can’t wait for the action!”

Ahum, Simon, we are talking about chess, aren’t we? 😉

@ShekharGupta:“If u love any sport at all, go to Carlsen-Anand now! This incredible slugfest of mind more thrilling on Twitter than any live cricket on TV”.

@nigelshortchess: “We have gone about 10 minutes without someone calling me a “faggot” Good day so far”.

@anishgiri:“Early to say, but looks like Magnus did his homework this time. If Anand is unfamiliar with it, a quick draw is likely”. @GMRobinVK: “Not a very exciting game, but good preparation by Magnus. Maybe he’ll end up a tiny bit worse but this will be drawn”.

@chesscampeona: “I don’t want to “read” or “hear” the word draw so early in the game.”

@fstimjp:“Black is slightly awkward.” Any symbol for that?”

@GMHikaru: “Carlsen is worse, but he should draw relatively easily. I don’t understand the commentators at all.”

@anishgiri:“Wow, surprised, Anand doesn’t even try, though wasn’t all that much anyway, probably.”@FabianoCaruana : “Anticlimax” .

@Wish4Vishy: “Game 5 is a hurridly played Draw”.

@GMJtis:“So, decent day at the office for both. MC has shown good prep at last, VA got something anyway, but didn’t make much of it”.

A quick game, and a dull press conference, according to @closetgm: “I really have to switch off from this Carlsen – Anand press-con. What a dry uninteresting affair! “

The keywords today: dry, uninteresting, anticlimax: where do we put this game in tomorrow’s paper? @shawshankone has an idea:

“Jr Reporter: Sir the Carlsen-Anand game was fabulous

Sr R: Any fights?

JR: No

SR: Abuses?

JR: No

SR: Skirts?

JR: No

SR: Put it on last page”

Last tweet for today: @LennartOotes: “Jeez, literally did nothing work related today but staring at a computer screen. Really need a positive work attitude”.

Before we are going to have a look at tweets of game 4, let us look back at game three. Many, many tweets popped up in the Twitter timeline. Not surprisingly, most tweets came from India. “Chess” and “Anand” was trending in India, meaning that literally thousands of people congratulated Anand on his win in the third game. However, a rather nasty side effect showed up: the official Twitter hashtag #CarlsenAnand was flooded with spam, by spambots.

@anand_bombay: “I guess fans went overboard yesterday with the hashtag and the spambots caught on.”

A spambot is an automated computer program designed to assist in the sending of spam. Spambots usually create fake accounts and send spam using them, although in many cases it would be obvious that a spambot is sending it. (Wikipedia).

How to get rid of these spambots? I asked for advice on Twitter and @Art_Smart tweeted: “If you block those tweets and report them as spam, they disappear from your feed.” @traderDXB: “Just block all tweets containing “Google inbox invite” And voila!”

Sometimes “spam” can be funny, though.

Game four

Chess now! @kasparov63 tweeted about his old rival. Let us not forget that he played a world championship match against Vishy in 1995! Magnus Carlsen was 5 years old….

“Anand the old tiger cannot chase down his prey so easily these days, but if you put your head in his mouth his teeth are still quite sharp!”

And another tweet, by former world championship match contender @nigelshortchess: “I don’t like to be rude about my superiors, but I have to say that Magnus’ opening prep. was really shoddy yesterday”

Well, let’s check what the world champion played today then! What does Twitterland expect? @EinarGausel:“Don’t expect to see Magnus swinging for the fences today. The Champ will no doubt be looking for a slow, technical grind”. @dfreire: “Today we have a wounded Magnus Carlsen playing with white. It’s one of those rare occasions chess fans won’t want to miss”. @rajkashana: “Carlsen will try to get Vishy out of prep as quickly as possible. I doubt if he plans to enter Mordor again. :)”

Some useful information by @shrinjanr: “Every game Vishy wins he gains 6 elo points while Magnus gains 4. For a loss its -6 & -4 respectively. For a draw +1 & -1”

Are we ready for game four? Judit Polgar posted this picture.

@GMJuditPolgar: “Wanna know what a retired chess queen does in her free time? Gets a chair and checks what Vishy and Magnus are up to:)”

The story of game four in ten tweets:

1. @bennedik:“Very happy to see a Sicilian. Now wait for Magnus to take all the life out of the position and get a nice endgame”

2. @MarkTwic:“Was there a small disturbance in the audience to Carlsen-Anand game 4? Here Carlsen turns and stares?”

3. @rajachess: “Oh,almost my game against Carlsen from Wijk. I developped differently with black,had some problems,Anand wants to play with isolani pure.”

4. @FabianoCaruana: “Anand will be defending this for a while, but he can be confident about his chances to hold on”

5. @JanAageFjortoft: “Preparing for a football-game, watching Chess live on TV It’s a funny old game….”

6. @nigelshortchess: “I played a guy at blitz who explained he was hoping I would die of a heart attack. Perhaps this is also Magnus’ strategy? :)”

7. @Chessbase: “Magnus watches Philae land.”

8. @AnishGiri: “Vishy looks bored, I think he wants to play a pillow fight with Akhil.”

9. @GMJanGustafsson: “Come on guys, shake hands, the rest of us have work to do!”

One bonus tweet by Claudia Munoz aka @Chesscampeona, proving that women multitask more than men: “I am watching Carlsen Anand and the landing of the European Space Ship on the Comet, both at the same time.”

I hope you understand the @Chessbase tweet now :-))

@fmkrms:“Alright so ESA landed on a comet, well done… but could they do it on a wet Wednesday night in Stoke?”

One last tweet for today, a good one to think about on the rest day. @GMjtis: “Twitter is full of people who want you to say something and then tell you what you said instead of reading what you said “